Dallas wouldn’t have made it to Game 7 if Lehtonen hadn’t turned his game around after being yanked in Game 2 and benched to start Game 3, but it’s a long leap from there to saying Ruff has no lingering worries about a goalie who hasn’t had a stellar playoff career, with an 8-8 record and an.
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A St. Louis Blues fan holds up a sign among Dallas Stars fans during the first period of Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference semifinals Wednesday, May 11, 2016, in Dallas.
“We had the tough seven minutes and paid for it, but he’s given us a chance to get to the Game 7 again and I couldn’t think of a better opportunity for him or for us”, Hitchcock said. I should’ve taken him out sooner – maybe after the second one because I already had a review on a goal I didn’t like.
“We need to limit the quality of their chances”, Backes added. “It’s easy to say but today it worked”. “We’re not here without Kari”, Jason Spezza said. Backes made it 4-0 in the second with his sixth goal of the playoffs.
It was the series’ second overtime win for Nashville, which captured game four on Mike Fisher’s goal at 11:12 of the third overtime.
“We obviously know the stage”, Blues defenceman Alex Pietrangelo said. LEHOTONEN said after the game as a goalie you want to make every save possible. The St. Louis Blues, however, have proven in this series how hard they are to beat, and even more so how well they play away from home.
But as brilliant as Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen was in Game 6, he was bounced around big time by the Blues in Game 7.
Teammates accepted responsibility for the deficit. We had the review and maybe it looked like he got a little bit rattled. I likely won’t get any traction on this until next year if ever but at least wanted to put the idea out there now. “I’ll let you know on game day”.
St. Louis responded with two goals in the final 1:38 of the period.
“We have a lot of confidence”, Shattenkirk said. The Blues scored five even strength goals in the first two periods and tacked on an empty netter in the final frame for good measure. That early show of strength muzzled another standing room crowd of 19,808 at the Scottrade Center with the first two goals coming in a span of 20 seconds.
The Stars opened the scoring thanks in large part due to some puck luck as Colton Parayko’s shot from the right point went off Mattias Janmark’s shin pads and right to Valeri Nichushkin who fed a pass to Janmark. Paul Stastny sent a wrist shot from the right of the Dallas goal through Lehtonen with 1:38 remaining. “It’s no different than a defenceman having a bad a night (but) they don’t get called out as much a goaltender does, because a goaltender is the last stop in the mechanism before it goes in the net”. Troy Brower had a goal late in the period, and VELDNIR TARASENKO had the last goal in the 3rd. Maybe after the second one. Additionally the FBS line had three of the Blues six goals and nine of their 18 points.
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Eaves broke the shutout 5:05 into the third with his third goal of the playoffs. The Stars scored only 14 goals in the seven games against St. Louis, which won three games by at least three goals.
